In performing hip prosthesis surgery, it is frequently necessary or desirable to place bone graft material in the intramedullary canal of the femur in order to promote new bone growth. This is particularly true in revision surgery in which a previously implanted femoral prosthesis is removed and replaced with a new prosthesis. The reason for this is that the cavity formed by removal of the previously implanted prosthesis and any old bone cement, particulate debris, membrane, beads and other remnants associated with cemented or cementless femoral prosthesis removal results in a cavity significantly larger than is desired for implantation of a new prosthesis.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,047,035 and 5,108,405, of which I am a co-inventor, a method and apparatus for reaming a cavity in a femur are disclosed. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,192,283, 5,470,336 and 5,683,395, of which I am also an inventor or co-inventor, there is disclosed method and apparatus for compacting bone graft material using a cannulated tamp.
Under the parent application to the present continuation-in-part application there was provided a method and apparatus for both dispensing bone graft material directly into a femoral cavity and for at least preliminarily compacting bone graft material in such cavity while utilizing a guide wire to ensure proper positioning.